Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Pill-"Trap Goin' Ham" video shoot photos

I joined the homie and Grind Time Rap Gang member Pill and the Motion Family on the set of Pill's video shoot for "Trap Goin' Ham" this past Saturday. Truer words have never been spoken. If edited right (which I trust Motion Family to do) this video will be Juvenile's "Ha" to the Nth degree...
First off, the shoot went down in 4th Ward between Edgewood and Auburn Ave. Many people forget about this part of town as they either roll through it quickly to get down to the end of Edgewood where all the boutique shops are at or they only go down there during the Sweet Auburn festival. Either way, this area is one of those pockets of Atlanta that get lost in the shadow of the skyline, away from consciousness. But, as this video will show, "shit still goes down."

No part of the video was planned. Pill and the crew simply jumped outside and started taping. Everyone in the video is in the video because they were already there...and are probably still gonna be there the next time you ride through. The only "rappers" on set were Pill, Yelawolf and Rochelle Fox (also of Grind Time). Everyone else were really out there for real.

The first scene I caught up with them at was off of Edgewood down by the barber shop. The cops were sitting attentively to see what all was going on. Because like I said, none of this was planned. They just went out and started taping. Of course small crowds started to form. Fortunately the cops didn't trip too hard, giving the guys a interval of 30 minutes to do what they have to do and keep it moving.

After shooting some scenes there they moved down in front of Pink City.

Like I said this whole area sits in the shadow of the skyline literally and figuratively. So there's probably people who've been living in Atlanta for a minute and have absolutely no clue of this place. Hell I only knew of it myself because I used to take Hilliard to cut back and forth between Auburn and Edgewood. All I'll tell you is that the place was always a scene. The above video is going to ensure that people at least know of it. The "Trap Goin Ham" video shoot is going to let people know it existed.

The place is gated up now, but hell, it was gated up when people were living there. Barb wire and the whole nine. The only difference is that the gate is actually locked now. Anyways, they shot some pretty interesting scenes there to say the least.

When I meant interesting I actually meant when the random chick drove up to the scene asked what was going and rendered some of her services for the cause.

Like I said. None of this was planned.

After that they went up to the Quicky Picky to shoot some car scenes.

Again, random girls drove up asked what's up and got a cameo in the video.

From that point, that's when shit started hitting the fan.

The final scene was supposed to go down in front of the Auburn Food Mart. When we got there a certain gentleman imposed himself onto the scene. Saying "ya'll need to put pimpin in this video." When the cameras entertained his shit talking he immediately switched gears demanding money for his time. Of course no one payed attention. Feeling disrespected "pimpin" went digging in the trash can and found a florescent light blub and came back swinging it like he was a Darth Vader.

Right around that time I started hearing a sound...like a live wire hitting water. It kept getting closer and closer. Then out of nowhere some dude is walking past us with a taser. Yes, a taser. How nghs got tasers, I don't know. All I know is out of all the possible weapons that could have been on set, that was the one I was most fearful of.

Of course not 10 minutes went by without it getting passed around and someone eventually getting tased. Unfortunately it was "pimpin"

Even though he didn't get tased long enough to be rendered unconscious, it still left a bruise. Hell, I'd be mad too if someone chose to use my body as a joke. From there "pimpin" started demanding money again since he figured he was filmed being tased. When no one ponied up any money, he threw the light bulb on the ground with it shattering into pieces. From there he went back to the trash can and came back with two broken bottles and started chasing people with it. At that point, I stopped taking pictures to look out for my personal safety. But, when someone gave him a rock, he shut up and left. About 30 seconds later I swear that taser was back again chasing a topless female crackhead across the street. Before you knew it she was swinging trash cans causing a ruckus, making the cops show up. Fortunately they didn't trip.

Anyways, the shoot carried on and just when I thought it couldn't get any realer...it did. The idea of Pill serving in front of the store came up and since it made sense, folks was with it. They chopped up peppermint to make fake crack sacks and everything. Insulted, the crackhead who was going to be in the scene said she had the real shit and that they should use that instead. They declined.

Determined to keep it real, the J in the scene offered to smoke the crack infront of the camera. When she did that shit, I was like aight, time to go shawty. I felt like this dude I saw on Def Comedy Jam years ago. When he said he went to a party, smoking weed, and got offended when people started doing cocaine, heroin and crack. He said "oh hell nah, ya'll doing DRUGS!"

But yeah, like I said from the footage that was captured, this is gonna come out more like a documentary than a music video. Its going to be the last time you may see some of the people and things in the city as Atlanta continues to grow.

Believe it or not there's still more pictures left that I didn't post yet in the galleries below. Hell, I still have more after that, but some of them can be incriminating, so I'll pass.

If you're into realism in your rap, this video is going to have it. Granted, alot of this ish was laughable, at the end of the day its actually tragic. There are alot of desensitized people out here in these streets that either have no clue or no cooth. At the rate that Atlanta is growing, everything and possibly everybody in this video will be swept away when ever the city decides too. Judging from the piece that Creative Loafing did on Boulevard, that time is coming soon.

13 comments:

ahh man and after you left dude came back and demanded money again! I believe the phrase he used was "crackhead justice." Luckily there was a huge lady there who was more than willing to engage him. We actually had to end up holding her back from him! Just another beautiful day in the A, lol.

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